Sunny Side Up
by maggienhawk
Summary: Sitting alone in a diner, Sara’s memories take her back to the diner in Vegas. GSR. Response to a private challenge.


**Title: Sunny Side Up**

**Author: Maggienhawk**

**Disclaimer: Not mine, because if they were, you really think I would share them?**

**Summary: Sitting alone in a diner, Sara's memories take her back to the diner in Vegas. GSR. Response to a private challenge.**

**A/N: Yes, it's another of Slave Driver's, I mean, AmbientFlames, challenges. But this one had no time limit, and I think I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I really don't think I've ever written so much in a short amount of time, so obviously Slave Driver lives up to her name…Elements of the Challenge: Pairing: GSR of course; Location: A Diner; Characters: Your choice; Lines to be included: "I'm getting jiggy with it." "What if I want you to spank me?" "Leggo my burrito, Greggo." Elements: 1) Road map of ****Tennessee**** 2) Seaweed 3) Box of matches 4) Friendship bracelet.**

Sara never thought it would end like this. Sitting alone at semi-clean table, in some dive diner off the I-15, just over the California-Nevada border. Although she knew this day was going to come, she didn't expect it to be so nervous about it.

The waitress brought out her meal, but she really wasn't that hungry. She poked at the eggs on her plate, wishing there was someone sitting across from her to take the bacon off of her plate.

She laughed lightly to herself. _Who are you kidding, Sidle? You know exactly who you want to take your bacon, and he's not here._

She sighed, placing a bite of eggs in her mouth, still surprised by how good they actually tasted. It was probably the best eggs she had tasted from a diner in awhile, or at least since she had moved to Vegas. Just thinking about the diner that the graveyard shift had frequented brought an onslaught of memories to the forefront of her mind, and she dropped the fork to her plate as she remembered each and every one.

The first memory was of her and Warrick's first breakfast together. They had just figured out that a groom, on the eve of his wedding night, had caught his future wife in bed with a stripper, and had smashed a lamp over the guy's head. He had offered to buy her breakfast to show that there were no hard feelings about her investigations of him. She was wary at first, but agreed. If anything, it was going to be a nice meal with a very attractive man. Too bad he was the only thing attractive about the meal…

_Her plate was set in front of her and she just gaped at how completely unappetizing the food looked._

_"I'm going to warn you, it tastes almost as bad as it looks."_

_She looked up, noticing the humor reflected in his green eyes. "Then why are we here?"_

_"Think of it as an initiation of sorts. We've always brought the new hires here. Plus, the music is just jammin'." He started dancing obnoxiously in the booth across from her, even though his timing didn't match up with the slow oldies tune playing from the overhead speaker._

_She burst out laughing, and in between breaths she asked, "What the hell are you doing?"_

_"I'm getting jiggy with it."_

_The two continued to laugh, and both realized at that moment that it was going to be the beginning of an interesting friendship…_

The next memory that assaulted her mind made her think of Hank. It was two mornings after she had found out that he was two-timing scum and after Catherine had taken her out for a few drinks after the case was solved. Catherine had left her a message on her cell to meet at the diner an hour before shift…

_She settled in to the booth across from an already waiting Catherine. "What's up?"_

_"Nothing, I just wanted to check to make sure you're doing alright."_

_Sara narrowed her eyes skeptically. "Okay, who are you and what did you do with the Catherine that I know?"_

_Catherine flipped her hair over her shoulder and laughed, slightly miffed. "Listen, I know what it's like, to find out the guy that you love…"_

_Sara quickly interrupted, "I did not love him."_

_"Love, lust, infatuation, whatever.__ Finding out that the guy you are seeing is a scumbag sucks, and I wanted to impart some advice on dealing with it." She started rummaging through her bag, pulled out a small box and slid it across the table. _

_Sara reached out and picked it up, "Matches?"_

_"To burn anything that reminds you of Hank the Skank. Trust me, its very therapeutic. When I found Eddie in my bed with some other woman…"_

_She listened as the other woman went on about her horrible marriage, smiling at absurd antics that Catherine had done, but storing the information subconsciously to use a few years later during one of their yearly bids for alpha female of the Vegas lab…_

Not feeling so hungry anymore, she sat there moving the remaining eggs around on her plate, although nowhere near the strips of bacon. She remembered a morning when Greg spent the whole meal just pushing his food around his plate. She and Nick had decided to take him out to make him feel better about failing his proficiency and losing his replacement in the lab all within a space of ten minutes. He had offered to get up and get the food for them, leaving the table with a smile on his face due to the story Nick was telling him about intergalactic marriages, but when he returned…

_"Hey! Leggo my burrito, Greggo."_

_Nick tried to pull the plate from the younger man's hands, but it seemed as if Greg was locked in a trance. _

_Sara stood up and spoke softly, "Greg, hey, Greg?"__ She placed a hand softly on his shoulder and he jumped._

_"Oh, sorry, I guess I kind of zoned out there for a bit."_

_"You okay?" Nick asked as Greg finally sat down next to him. _

_"Yeah, I guess it just hit me that I really could have botched up the case."_

_Sara smiled and reached over to touch his hand lightly, "You know we've all made stupid mistakes on this job. None of us are perfect. And just the same, we don't judge each other on our mistakes, we help each other realize what we did wrong."_

_Nick smiled and joked, "Yeah, what she said."_

_She shook her head and looked back to Greg, her hand still on his, "You are never going to ace this job. Once you think you see the worst, you'll find something worse down the line. Just remember that if you ever need anything, or want help with something, just call one of us and we'll be there in a heartbeat."_

_A slow smirk made its way onto Greg's face. "What if I want you to spank me?"_

_The hand that was on his immediately drew back as she exclaimed, "Anything but that, Greg Sanders. God, I was being serious."_

_Nick nearly fell off the booth laughing, and Greg let out a few chuckles. "I know, I just thought I would try."_

_This brought all three into more fits of laughter, and Sara knew that Greg would eventually pass his test, and be a remarkable CSI despite his quirky sense of humor…_

The waitress had come to pick up her plate and drop the bill on the table. Sara began to rifle through her bag, looking for her wallet, when she noticed the roadmap in one of the pockets. It was a going away gift from Greg, who apparently couldn't come up something more original than what he had given another member of the night shift during her last brunch…

_"A roadmap of __Tennessee__ Why thank you, Greg." __Sofia__ gave him a genuine smile, although Sara noticed the confusion in her eyes. _

_"Well, you know I figured, as the new dayshift supervisor of the __Nashville__ lab, you could use a little help getting to know the area."_

_Sofia turned to Sara, and mock whispered, "You know, I think the worst part is that his logic kind of makes sense."_

_Sara laughed. "Yeah, you know you've got to get out of here when Sanders starts to make sense." The other three people at the table, Greg included, began to laugh along with her._

_Once things calmed down, she began to drift off into her own thoughts as Greg recounted his latest case, which was apparently a murder at a sushi restaurant. She barely heard him state that the seaweed that the man had eaten had been sprinkled with a still unidentified poison, as she considered ways of getting out of the diner as quick as possible. She was only here to pacify Grissom, who was sitting across from her. He felt that __Sofia__ deserved a goodbye breakfast for being a halfway decent sport during her demotion. So, because they had been working so hard to become better friends and co-workers to each other, she agreed to spend an hour after shift wishing __Sofia__ good luck at her new job. Outwardly, she managed a polite expression throughout the entire meal, but inwardly, she had never been more excited to see a member of the crime lab leave…_

She waited for the waitress to bring back her credit card as she finished up the last of her coffee. Setting down the coffee mug, she noticed the bracelet that hadn't left her wrist since the day she received it. Another going away present, although much more treasured than the road map from Greg…

_Greg had already left twenty minutes before, stating that he needed his beauty sleep for a hot date he had before shift later that evening. But before he had left, he leaned down and brushed a soft kiss on Sara's cheek, saying how upset he was in losing a second gorgeous CSI in two months time and that the San Francisco night shift would be lucky to have such a hot boss. She had smiled, and gave him something he would never forget: A kiss on his cheek. Greg had walked out of the diner a happy man._

_She leaned back against the back of the booth, and sighed. "You know, this is one thing I am not going to miss about Vegas. The food here really sucks."_

_Grissom chuckled, and leaned back against his side of the booth. "And yet we still keep coming back here."_

_"Traditions are traditions."_

_"Yes, they are." Grissom stared at her intently and she felt as if he was trying to burn her image into his mind. _

_He then surprised her by pulling out a long narrow box from his coat pocket. "I got you a present."_

_She could feel the flush rising up her face. "You really didn't have to."_

_"I know, but when I saw it, I thought of you." He handed her the small package._

_She regarded him for a moment, and then quickly turned her attention to the gift. Opening the box, she found a silver bracelet adorned with a single dragonfly pendant. It was amazingly simple, and yet took her breath away. She raised her gaze to meet his as he began to speak._

_"The dragonfly can represent emotion and passion in young individuals, and then as they mature, the individual can because more balanced and have more mental clarity. It lives a dual life, beginning in water, and making its way out into a different world, but not without a struggle to remove itself of its former life. You remind me so much of a dragonfly, Sara, and I am going to miss you dearly."_

_She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, and she looked back down to the token of friendship that he had given her. Carefully removing it from the velvet, she held out her hand towards him, silently asking him to help her. _

_His touch had always sent shivers down her spine, and this time was not an exception. Once he had tenderly fastened the bracelet around her wrist, she smiled and stood, moving slowly to his side of the table. She placed her hands on both sides of his face, softly caressing the facial hair and skin. Deciding to go for broke, knowing that this could possibly be the last time she would have the opportunity, she lightly brushed her lips against his in the briefest of kisses._

_Without moving her face from his, she tried to read his thoughts through his eyes, but was surprised when they shut and she felt his lips again upon her own, with more pressure than before. While still chaste, this kiss expressed more emotion than either of them had been able to convey in the five years of working together. _

_Slowly, they pulled apart, gazes locked. Sara straightened up completely, and offered him a ghost of a smile. "Goodbye, Griss."_

_She walked out of the diner, for the last time, knowing that she had just shed the last of her skin, and was ready for the new life ahead of her…_

She walked out into the sunlight, and as she reached up to grab her sunglasses from the top of her head, she noticed a person leaning against the passenger's side door of her car. She immediately recognized the figure and a smile made its way to her lips as she increased her pace.

"What are you doing here?" She asked the man, stepping right in front of him, invading his personal space.

"Well, I knew that you always stop here because the eggs are good." Grissom returned her smile, and not showing any indication of nervousness in her presence.

She raised an eyebrow, "And how did you know when I was going to be here?"

"You told me when you were leaving, and I left with enough time to get here. I've been waiting at the gas station across the street, and I saw you pull in."

"You let me eat by myself?"

"I thought I'd let you enjoy your eggs."

"And here I was looking for someone to take the bacon from my plate." She lowered her head, and her smile faltered a little.

He noticed her nervous actions and reached up to caress her cheek, gently lifting her face back up. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I think I'm just nervous."

"Nervous?"

She leaned forward and was pulled into his strong embrace. "I mean, it's a big step."

"Yes, it is." His fingers moved through her silky strands as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Turning a three year long distance relationship into a…a…"

He pulled her back so that he could look in her eyes, "Into a marriage."

She blushed and rolled her eyes at her own inability to voice the next step of their relationship. "Yeah, a marriage." She subconsciously moved closer to him.

"Everything will work itself out, you know that," he said softly, almost against her lips, and as soon as the last word was said, he captured them with his own, kissing her tenderly.

The kiss evolved into one similar to the many that they had shared in the past, and when air became necessary, they both reluctantly pulled away. Sara was the first to regain her bearings and spoke softly, her hand still tangling in the curls at his nape, his arms still wrapped around her. "You know, I am excited to see everyone again."

His smile grew. "And they're just as excited to see you too. Although, I think they're more excited to see me with you."

"Greg tells me you're a hell of a lot nicer when I'm around."

"Well, you make me a better person."

She shook her head. "No, I think we helped each other figure out how to be better people."

He nodded and pulled her into another embrace, and she knew that leaving Vegas was worth this, this ultimate feeling of being home in his arms.

"Can we go home now?" She whispered lightly into his ear, her breath tickling his neck.

"Absolutely." They released each other's hold on one another, and hand in hand walked to the driver's side of her car. As she started to climb in the car, his hand on her arm stopped her. "You do know that we will still be going to the diner all the time, because even though the food is horrible…"

"The memories are so much better," she finished for him, leaning up and taking a small kiss to last the last stretch back to Vegas. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Sara."

She got into her car, and before turning on the ignition, she watched as he made his way back to his own vehicle. Knowing that it was almost the end of their separation made her feel almost giddy and she knew that although it was the end of something wonderful, it was the beginning of something infinitely better.

**The End**


End file.
